Infant garment



0 United States Patent [1 11 3,54 ,450

72 Inventor Richard R.Quinlan 2,837,095 6/1958 Stevenson I airs/284Beavertomoregon (1000 N.W. l23rd., 2,842,129 7/1958 Ernstorff ""128/295Apt. 10, Portland, Oreg. 97229) 3,103,930 9/1963 Collett et a1. 128/286[21] Appl. No. 609,465 3,196,874 7/1965 Hrubecky 128/287 [22] Filed Jan.16, 1967 3,344,789 10/1967 Arnold et al 128/287 [45] Patented Nov. 17,1970 2,976,869 3/1961 Silverstone et al 128/295 Primary Examiner-CharlesF. Rosenbaum [54] INFANT GARMENT Attorney- Kohsch & Hartwell 3 Claims, 3Drawing Figs. v [521 [LS- 128/287 [51] Int." A611 13/16 [50] FieldoISearch 128/284,

286287-288 ABSTRACT: A first garment including a liquid impervious layerfitted about a male infants lower abdomen and groin, [56] with an ovalhole through it receiving the infant's penis and UNITED STATES PATENTSscrotum, and a second garment enclosing the first garment 2,690,74910/1954 Nelson 128/287 adapted to absorb urine discharged.

Patented Nov. 17, 1970 3,540,450

/ Fig .3.

/ Richard R.Quinlan I BY INVENTOR fizlv INFANT GARMENT This inventionrelates to a method and means for clothing a 7 male infant.

ln infants, diaper rash (an irritation of the skin beneath the diaper)is a common annoyance. Not only is there an irritant effect due tomoisture from the infants perspiration and urine being retainedli ncontact with the skin, but there may also be a burning ammoniadermatitis produced which results from bacterial decomposition of theurine which is held in contact with the skin. The distribution ofammonia dermatitis corresponds to the spread of the urine retained incontact with the skin, which usually encompasses the lower abdominal andgroin re.- gions of the infant. The incidence of this irritation anddermatitis is increased by the use of water proof coverings for diapers,which inhibit diaper drying. i i

A general'objcct of this invention, therefore, is to provide novel meansfor clothing a male infant which is effective to reduce skin irritationolthe type above described.

More specifically, an object of this invention is to provide a. garmentfor clothing a male infant, comprising a covering for the infant's lowerabdominal and groin regions having a hole This enables opposite endmargins such as those shown at i211. 12b to be folded back over theadjacent margins of the absorbent and support plies and then be suitablysecured in place as with an adhesive such as shown at 20. in such amanner the various layers in the garment are held together. L y

Intermediate the ends of the liquid impervious layer, the absorbent ply,and supportply 16 areregistered apertures, more specifically oval holes,shown at 28, 30, and32; "respectively.

The major axes of the holes extend along the longitudinal axis of thegarment. As seen in HO. 1, the location of the holes is offset from thecenter and toward one end (the right end in through it which receive theinfants genitalia including the scrotum. With such an organization,urine discharged does not collect in concentrations immediately on hisskin. Furthermore, the scrotum of the infant's genitalia functions tomain tain the garment properly positioned.

Another object is to provide a novel method of clothing a male infantwhich comprises enclosing thelower abdominal and groin regions of theinfant in a garment, projecting such infants genitalia including hasscrotum through a hole in the garment, and then enclosing thefirst-mentioned garment and genitalia in another garment. Such othergarment functions as an absorbing medium for urine discharged;

Another object is to provide a novel garment for clothing a male infant,including a hole extending through it as above-indicated, wherein thegarment includes a liquid impervious layer which functions as abarrier-preventing urine discharged from traveling through the garmentto come in contact with the infant's skin.

A further feature of the invention is the inclusion in the garment of anabsorbent layer which, with the garment clothing an infant, is-disposedinwardly of the liquid impervious layer. This absorbent layer iseffective to absorb perspiration andv other moisture which may collectover the skin and promotes comfort.

These and other objects and advantages are attained by the invention,and the same is described hereinbelow in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a back plan view ofa garment manufactured in ac-. cordancewith this invention, having oneofits corners opened up to show plies inthe garment in partially folded back posi- FIG. 3 illustrates thegarment in operative position enclosing the abdominal and groin regionsof an infant. portionsof the infant's body being illustrated indashedoutline.

Referring now to the drawings, shown generally at 10 is a garment foruse on a male infant constructed according to a preferred embodiment ofthe invention. T he garment-takes the form of a rectangular sheet andincludes a liquid impervious layer 12. an absorbent ply underlying layer12, and a support ply l6 underlying the absorbent ply;

Liquid impervious layer [2 may be' a rectangular sheet of. one of anynumber of pliable liquid imperviousmaterials, such as. for example, aplastic impregnated cloth. The-absorbent ply M which is against layer 12may be a rectangular sheetrof absorbent material such ascompressedcotton. Support ply 16 may be a rectangular sheet of materialsuch as gauze and is present in the garment to aid in holding theftbcrsof the absorbent ply in place. Support ply l6 and absorbent ply 14together form a liquid-perviouslaycr underlying layer 12.

.ln manufacturing-the garment impervious layer l2,may be made with asomewhat greater length than plies l4 and 16.

shown in solid .outline encloses the lower abdominal and groin regionsof the infant. Pinning the diaper in place are pins 37. The infantsgenitalia, more specifically penis andscrotum, 38, indicated in dashedoutline, are shown inserted through re-- gistering apertures 28,30 and32 in garment l0.

With the garment so positionedthe penis lies outside the garment and anyurine discharged is prevented from flowing onto the skin by the barrierformed by liquid impervious layer 12. The edges defining apertures 28,30, 32 rest snugly adjacent the base of the genitalia and because ofthis snug fit leakage in this region is inhibited. It is very importantthat the scrotum be inserted throughthe apertures together with thepenis. By so doing a means is provided for maintaining the garment inproper position on the infant with the penis outside I the garment. ithas been found that with the usual infant, and

by reason of the squirming to be expected of such a child, the penisdoes not tend to remain outside the garment unless posi- 'tioned withthe scrotum as described. Absorbent ply 14,

'are indicatedat 40. This other or outer garment is placed so as toenclose garment 10 and genitalia 38. The frontal section of garment 40has been broken away in FIG. 3, better to illustrate the operativeposition of garment l0. Garment 40 may be of cloth or other liquidabsorbent material, and functions to absorb urinary discharge from theinfant.

It is arelativelyeasy matter to cloth the infant with the garmentsdescribed. Garment 10 is placed in position enclosing the lowerabdominal and groin regions of the infant with support ply l6 next tothe infants bodyyabsorbent ply 14 outwardly from the support ply, andliquid impervious layer 12 forming the outside of the garment andoutwardly from the absorbent layer. 'Prior to pinning the corners of thegarment in place the genitalia is thrust through apertures 28, 30, 32.Garment 40 may'then be pinned in place using procedures similar to thoseused in clothing an infant with the usual diaper.

While an embodiment of the invention has been described. it should beobvious that variations and modifications are possible without departingfrom the invention.' It is desired to cover all such variations andorganizations as would be apparent to those skilled in the art, and thatcome within the scope of the appended claims.

l. A method of caring for a male infant to take care of his urinarydischarge comprising covering lower abdominal and groin regions of theinfant in a garment, said garment having a hole extending therethroughin a region adjacent the genitalia of such infant, such covering beingdone with projecting such genitaliaincluding the scrotum through saidhole and forming a snug fit about the base of such genitalia with themargins of such hole, placing another garment which is separate from the2. The method of claim 1, wherein a moisture barrier is 3. The method ofclaim 2, wherein such abdominal and prepared by including in saidfirst-mentioned garment a liquid I groin regions are covered by anabsorbent layer in said garimpervious layer which surrounds the holewhich such ment which is disposed inwardly of the liquid imperviouslayer genitalia is projected through. and which contacts the body of theinfant,

